Jailed for rape, actor who claimed that he had sexsomnia: Eight years for attack on teen

Jailed for rape, actor who claimed that he had sexsomnia: Eight years for attack on teenSimon Morris, 42, targeted the 15-year-old girl at a house partyHe sneaked into the room where she was asleep and raped her Told Cardiff Crown Court he had no memory of having sex with the girlHe said he suffers from the medical condition sexsomniaBut judge said Morris told 'an endless number of glib lies' during the trial Morris appeared in film alongside Michael Caine and had role in Hollyoaks

By
Luke Salkeld

PUBLISHED:

17:42 GMT, 25 February 2013

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UPDATED:

01:00 GMT, 26 February 2013

Actor Simon Morris, 42, pictured, pretended he suffered from sexsomnia after raping a 15-year-old girl at a house party

An actor who claimed he was sleepwalking when he assaulted a teenage girl was jailed yesterday.

Simon Morris, 42, said he had ‘sexsomnia’ and did not remember attacking the 15-year-old.

But a jury decided his defence was all an act, and yesterday Judge Daniel Williams sentenced him to eight years for rape.

Morris, a bit-part performer who has appeared in Hollyoaks, attacked the girl after a house party.

He went into her bedroom when she was asleep, but told a court he had no memory of sex, saying: ‘I have a history of sleepwalking, checking my phone, gyrating against door frames and having sex with partners in my sleep.’

Yesterday the judge said: ‘I do not accept that you do not recollect the attack. You told an endless number of glib lies.

'You were unrelenting in pursuit of your victim. You tried to chat her up, boasting about your career.

‘You played the role of nice guy and you deployed the acting skills you boasted about.’

He added: ‘You have shown no remorse and the only thing that has burdened you is self-pity.’

In recent years, a string of men accused of rape and sexual assault have claimed they were suffering sexsomnia and were not in control.

Sexsomnia is a medical condition which causes sufferers to carry out sexual acts in their sleep. It is related to other sleeping conditions, or ‘parasomnias’, such as sleepwalking.

It can cause great distress for genuine sufferers, who are mostly male.

Of 18 known rape cases in which sexsomnia was used as a defence in British courts from 1996 to 2011, 12 ended in acquittals, one Scottish case was found ‘not proven’ and only five ended in guilty verdicts.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the claim was a ‘feeble excuse to escape the inevitable’.

Morris raped the teenager at a party after she had been put to bed by her father. The prosecutor told the court that Morris had winked at the girl and asked her to stay with him in London during the party

Prosecutor Sue Ferrier said Morris ‘took an interest in the girl – winking at her, helping her pour drinks and even offering her to stay with him’.

She said: ‘The girl got drunk on cocktails and her father put her to sleep. The girl’s father tried to wake his daughter at 6am to go home, but as she was fast asleep he left her in the bed for the night. By 6.30am the girl was crying rape.’

The girl’s statement to police described how she woke to see Morris standing in front of her, touching her sexually.

He had sex with her before leaving, when the ‘full horror’ hit, she said.

Morris’s girlfriend Helen Cole stood by him and told police he once tried to have sex with her in his sleep.

Morris, who lives in London, appeared on Hollyoaks in 2001 and with Michael Caine in the 2000 film Shiner.

He had been found guilty of rape by a jury in December.

Yesterday he was jailed for eight years and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.